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First quarterly meeting of the 2018/19 financial year to discuss the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) agenda

South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, on Wednesday left for Windhoek, Namibia to attend the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Council of Ministers’ meeting scheduled for 12 to 13 April 2018. This is the first quarterly meeting of the financial year 2018/19 to discuss the SACU agenda.

The Ministers will discuss, among others, the SACU trade negotiations, including the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area and provide strategic guidance.

Minister Davies will also attend the inaugural meeting of the Ministerial Task Team on Trade and Industry set up by the SACU Summit in Swaziland in June 2017 to review the trade and industry aspects of the 2002 SACU Agreement.

“The objective of the review is to identify critical areas of the SACU Agreement to be amended to facilitate the transformation of SACU into a development integration arrangement,” said Davies. He emphasised that SACU has already identified the critical pillars to advance this objective through the six-point plan.

The pillars of the six-point plan include: industrialisation; trade facilitation; a unified approach to trade negotiations with third parties; establishment of institutions; trade in services and the review of the revenue-sharing arrangement to facilitate the implementation of cross-border projects that promote regional integration.

The review of the 2002 SACU agreement aims to facilitate the implementation of the agreed work programme,” said Davies. The implementation of the six-point plan is central in promoting sustainable development of SACU economies.